Joe and Bill talked on the phone and decided to sit down in person, for the 昀椀rst time in ages. Bill was surprised at how old Joe looked. Joe quietly thought the same of Bill. At 昀椀rst they talked about how they could beat the Loudspeaker, but they reluctantly concluded that the Loudspeaker was here to stay. They both talked about how their businesses weren’t turning out the way they planned, about how they should’ve stayed in touch, and how they should’ve treated each other as true partners. And then a sadness came over them. There was one element they both realized had been ignored in all of this —The Customer. 12